Category Archives: Bitcoin

Crypto-candidate Rand Paul is set to rake-in a mountain of Bitcoins with this latest announcement.

More importantly however, is the fact that Bitcoins can be donated anonymously, which takes the political tracking mechanism away from anyone who wants to know from what person or interest group that money has originated from.

If a foreign entity, or a George Soros-like character is able to pump millions in Bitcoins into the Paul campaign – causing ‘public outrage’ in the classic Hegelian dialectic fashion – then such a politically-charged scenario might – ironically – be used to demonize the concept of an independent Bitcoin.

Rand Paul has announced he is accepting Bitcoin contributions to his presidential campaign becoming the first presidential candidate in American history to do so.

Visitors to his website can contribute up to $100 in the crypto currency.

The Republican libertarian’s move coincides with his attempt to portray himself as a staunch critic of excessive government surveillance and a champion of Internet freedom. For his campaign, he’s seeking support from “younger, technology adept voters,” especially those leading innovation in Silicon Valley.

His connection to Bitcoin also places him in line with his father Ron Paul, who is known for aggressively suggesting the United States return to a gold standard and criticizing the Federal Reserve.

Although some congressional and state candidates began accepting Bitcoin donations last year, Paul is the highest-profile candidate to align himself with this type of currency.

Some analysts have expressed concern that bitcoin will simply add another challenge when it comes to transparency in campaign funding but Paul is not likely to be the only 2016 candidate who accepts the online currency.

However, the report concedes that the risks presented to the banking system by bitcoin should not be ignored:

“Bitcoin users can handle many of their daily payments needs themselves, without the need for interaction with banks, and avoiding the need to incur bank fees. In the same way, value stored in PayPal accounts moves outside of the bank’s payment systems, depriving banks of valuable payments revenue.”

The BBA believes it is important for banks to take action now, investing time and energy in understanding how best to use the technology behind bitcoin.

“Banks must accept that they are increasingly part of the broader ecosystems that customers are constructing around themselves. However, their place in these ecosystems is far from secure,” the report concludes.

One of London’s premier property pioneers, RE/MAX, today reported a test pilot with GoCoin to accept digital money for property rentals in the UK. GoCoin, which recently surpassed 5,500 merchants, is a worldwide pioneer in Blockchain payment processing and was the first to give retailers the ability to accept Dogecoin at checkout.

Real Estate and Bitcoin

The latest partnership for GoCoin enables RE/MAX in the UK to offer to its clients and consumers the possibility to make payments for property rentals with digital currency. RE/MAX hopes that by integrating with GoCoin’s platform, both it and its tenants will benefit from frictionless lease payments without the fees associated with credit cards and other traditional payments methods.

“RE/MAX is the most productive estate agency network in the world, and this is due, in part, to the way we proactively leverage emerging technologies,” said Peggy Su, regional owner and director at RE/MAX London. “RE/MAX has just topped representation in over 95 countries: this represents over one third of the world hence the importance of providing extensive options of payment methods for our clients and consumers in today’s market. Together with GoCoin, we are realizing the efficiencies of the new payments technology and its ability to add value to our internal business operations.”

Go to GoCoin

GoCoin allows merchant operators to safely accept digital currencies without being exposed to their potential market volatility. Merchants can choose to keep the cryptocurrency, or convert all or part of it into traditional fiat including USD, GBP, Euros and Singapore Dollars.

“RE/MAX London is taking an important first step toward embracing the full potential of the Blockchain for the real estate market,” said Steve Beauregard, co-founder and CEO of GoCoin. “Lease payments are one area of focus, and we look forward to expanding into other areas of smart property as well.”

Block chain technology can help

The Bitcoin Blockchain is a peer-to-peer system for exchanging value over the Internet without requiring an intermediary such as a bank or traditional financial institution. All transactions are recorded in a public ledger, and because digital currencies can only be transferred to one party at a time, fraud is completely eliminated.

The arrival of electronic currencies could revolutionise the way Britons pay for goods and services, in much the same way as the internet shook up how we access information, the Bank of England has said.

While traditional currencies, including the pound, are backed by central banks, new alternatives have allowed individuals to exchange directly without any such third party.

The Bank could itself create digital currencies, making the new system available as it does with banknotes today. Research would be necessary to develop the technology “without compromising a central bank’s ability to control its currency and secure the system against systemic attack”, the Bank said.

The idea of countries launching their own electronic currencies has gained pace in recent weeks, as Yanis Varoufakis became Greece’s newest finance minister. The Greek-born economist has previously suggested that “the technology of Bitcoin, if suitably adapted, can be employed profitably in the eurozone as a weapon against deflation”.

Nonetheless, the costs could be outweighed by a wave of payments innovation, if the Bank were to issue its own digital currency. The Bank said: “Creating such a system would entail creating a protocol for value transfer over the internet, akin to what [Tim] Berners-Lee did for information.”

The Bank said that it could investigate whether moving to digital currencies could threaten traditional banking models, as consumers moved towards holding electronic money themselves, rather than depositing it with high street lenders.

Mr Tindell said: “If the Bank were to create its own successful payments system then it would inevitably disrupt … existing inter-bank payments, but it would also affect companies like Western Union.”

The Bank’s comments were included with the launch of its One Bank Research Agenda, a new framework for conducting research. The Bank is looking at issues beyond its traditional scope, to see how monetary policy interacts with developments such as lengthening life spans and climate change.

Unveiling the new programme in London, Mark Carney, the Bank’s Governor, said: “Economies are complex, dynamic, and constantly evolving systems.”

“Policymakers need research to help understand these phenomena and to craft our responses,” he added.

The research agenda has been launched in the aftermath of the 2012 Stockton Review, which recommended that the Bank embrace a “more assertive and experienced staff”, that might be “capable of breaking the momentum of the house view”.

New technology has already “enabled the emergence of new business models, such as peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding, which create alternative sources of finance for both individuals and businesses”, the Bank continued.

Bitcoin goes public in Canada

BitGold Inc., the Canadian startup that successfully raised $3.5 million Series A funding in December of 2014 announced a reverse takeover of Loma Vista Capital Inc., a Canada-based mineral exploration and development company which focuses on the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties.

BitGold’s mission is to provide global access to gold for payments and secure savings, making the time tested store of value as useful as possible. Alexander Soros, the son of billionaire investor George Soros was one of the investors in the Series A round. Roy Sebag, CEO of BitGold said his reason for starting the company stemmed from his days as a professional investor where he wondered why there’s no easy way to own and spend gold in a legal, transparent, and tax-compliant manner.

Not a done deal yet

The transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including approval from the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) and current shareholders. The transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. Loma Vista is a penny stock company with a market cap shy of $600K. The combined company also expects to raise another $4.8 million by selling shares in the new company. 16.5 Loma Vista shares will be exchanged for one share of the new company, which will go by the name BitGold. 79% percent of the new company will be held by all original BitGold shareholders.

The rationale behind the deal

Reverse takeovers are a type of merger used by private companies to go public without having to go through the process of an IPO. In this case BitGold will acquire enough shares to control the publicly traded Loma Vista Capital Inc. When this deal completes, BitGold will effectively be a publicly traded Bitcoin company on the Canadian market.

Nick Szabo once said

“Precious metals and collectibles have an unforgeable scarcity due to the costliness of their creation. This once provided money the value of which was largely independent of any trusted third party. Precious metals have problems, however. It’s too costly to assay metals repeatedly for common transactions. Thus a trusted third party (usually associated with a tax collector who accepted the coins as payment) was invoked to stamp a standard amount of the metal into a coin. Transporting large values of metal can be a rather insecure affair, as the British found when transporting gold across a U-boat infested Atlantic to Canada during World War I to support their gold standard. What’s worse, you can’t pay online with metal.”

About BitGold

BitGold is a development stage internet technology and money service business. BitGold’s mission is to provide global access to gold for secure savings and transactions, making an extraordinary element useful and empowering again. BitGold is advancing the digital payments revolution by helping people acquire, store, and now spend gold with unprecedented simplicity. Through the use of its proprietary software technology, the BitGold operating platform provides innovative solutions to the challenge of transacting globally with fully allocated, redeemable and securely vaulted gold.

About Loma Vista

Loma Vista was incorporated pursuant to the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) on June 21, 2012. Loma Vista was previously a mineral exploration business, but ceased its exploration activities and relinquished its mineral property interests on January 9, 2015. Loma Vista’s current business is to identify and evaluate businesses and assets with a view to acquiring a new operating business.

No matter what problem we look at today, regardless of scope or gender, demographic statistic or geographic location we can provide a solution; if we throw enough money at it…

And therein lies the actual problem.

The fundamental problem the human species faces today is the current monetary system. I submit that only by completely revamping the monetary system will we be successful as a species.

Currently the monetary system is controlled by a “for profit” Central Banking system. The major problem with this system is the idea of profit itself. Profit means “to obtain a financial advantage or benefit”. Unlike barter, the concept of profit necessitates a winner and a loser in any transaction. Most people are not aware that the current monetary system is a for profit system designed to create wealth and power for those that control the system, just as one would profit from the oil or manufacturing industry. Central banking is the business of controlling the monetary system to enrich only those that wield control of the system.

I haven’t written much about Bitcoin as of late. While the positive fundamental news has continued to pour in with regard to adoption and venture capital investment, watching the price action has felt like watching paint peel off a wall.

When friends have asked me about the price action as of late, I only note the bizarre discrepancy between the fundamentals and price. One reason for this seems to be muted buying interest, coupled with miners who have already invested heavily in mining equipment, selling their reward blocks immediately in order to recoup some of their capital investment and offset energy costs. In addition, while banks have stated they are holding off with regard to Bitcoin until there is more regulatory certainty, it appears clear to me that the big banks are doing everything they can to stall Bitcoin adoption. This was confirmed last week when banks cracked down on the exponentially growing Bitcoin ecosystem in the Isle of Man.

Although PayPal has been publicly flirting with Bitcoin for some time, today’s announcement marks the company’s “first formal offering to the Bitcoin community,” according to Coindesk. When I initially heard the announcement, I knew it seemed significant, but I also noticed the price was somewhat slow to react. This seems to be due to exhaustion within the community with the aforementioned discrepancy between fundamentals and price. Nevertheless, I pulled up the chart and noticed that the BTC price had a good opportunity for a bullish daily reversal today. So I tweeted:

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